This is an interesting discussion with good points.In my eyes though, it does not matter if you charge for your shipping when it comes to wholesale or retail sales.The important thing is to be up front with your terms at the time of the sale.Psychologically having free shipping is good bait but I would use it only for first time sales that I knew I would still making a profit on.However make sure you are making a profit on the sale, not the shipping.

One other point is if you are not using USPS this week, be sure to look out for fuel surcharges increasing on Monday, December 3, 2007 as I have pointed out in my post at:

Good points Chris.Remember that you should not hide your shipping charges either.Ever changing shipping costs is another good reason to have flat rate charges instead of actual charges.Some web designers deal with shipping charges by not posting them until the last page of checkout.This is a bad short cut!I have seen so many web sites kill sales or localize their business by hiding how they handle shipping costs until the end and using actual rates.These are major show stoppers.Those that do it right closed many more sales this rough holiday season.I have been getting calls and emails for the last three weeks telling me this method works.

I would like to echo what Bert said here - beware of posting your shipping rates because they change. I had that happen in an unrelated eBay action where I had posted a flat shipping price but the shipping rates went up before the auction ended!

I am getting my wholesale pricing ready now and having shipping be the responsibility of the customer.

My thoughts are that you should look at everything as a revenue center if possible. But you have to be proportionate and reasonable. So if your wholesale cost is a percentage of your retail cost to customers you should look at handling the same way. I would pass through the shipping costs plus a small flat handling charge for your time and any special shipping packaging to ship the product. That handling charge is only for your time and effort to send it. The cost of packaging etc not related to shipping should be built in on your wholesale pricing, i.e. the cost of the bulk mail box etc should be a packaging cost not a shipping cost because regardless of where it goes or if it is picked up or delivered that package would be the same but if shipping requires a second outer box then that should be part of that shipping cost. To me the shipping and handling should be only related costs to getting the product to the customer that is non standard to your regular production packaging for wholesale.

Another thought...when your customer sells the item they are going to calculate their price point and margin based on their total acquisition cost so you may want to keep that in mind and work backwards from that number to make sure you end up giving them a palatable cost per unit to move your stuff. That is just my .02 cents.

First, be aware that many customers have learned to calculate shipping cost.So they will know if you are over charging on shipping cost.So, just charge standard shipping costs.

However, do not let someone talk you in to pre-quoting a shipping charge in writing.What can happen is you will quote shipping charges based on the order the customer originally gave you.But, before the order ships, the customer changes the order or way he wants the order shipped.However, the customer will insist on you abiding by the original freight quote.

That being said, here are some other ideas to think about.Don’t forget to bill for packaging and handling.These are real costs that small businesses sometimes over look.For example, what do your packaging and shipping supplies cost, i.e., boxes and wrapping paper.Also, how much of your time will you spend prepping and order for shipment.Your time is worth money.Many companies charge and additional $5.00 over actual shipping cost to cover packaging and handling costs.

It also should not matter what type of customer you are shipping to as far as what you charge for shipping and handling cost. Your decision on weather to grant a discount should be based on order dollar amount.Be willing to eat the shipping costs for a large enough order.

nevadascul2007-7-16 19:21:18

---The older we get, the more excuses we make for not chasing after our dreams. But truth is, goals are attainable at any age.

I need your advice on how to charge for shipping costs to wholesale customers.

I know I charge a shipping and handling charge for my own customers. But for the wholesale customers, do we only charge the actual shipping costs? OR can we also charge a handling fee along with the shipping costs?

So, to give you an example, I will ship the order via Global Priority. The actual cost is $16.00. So do I just charge the wholesaler $16.00? If I were to include handling, what would be a reasonable handling charge be?

Since this is my very first wholesale order, I don`t know the rules. I tried searching for the answer from the forums, but couldn`t find the answer. So, any help on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

So for the whole order, you just charge a total of $2.00 additional for a whole case of your product? Just want to re-confirm your advice.

For example:

In my case, the shipping cost is $16.00. So, using your advice, I would just charge $2.00 additional for the handling fee to make the total cost for shipping and handling to $18.00 for the wholesale customer, right?

Congrats to you on getting all the way up to this point! That`s so wonderful to hear!

As for me, I actually received my first purchase order from the big graphics tablet company called Wacom recently. And for them, I just charged the shipping plus insurance - at cost. I didn`t charge a handling fee at all. But for retailers, I usually just have them pay via FOB NJ.

But that`s just me. As Mary Kay suggested, you could also charge them a minimal handling charge too. Hope that helps!

Jeannie, I know this is an old post, but I`m at this point EXACTLY! Now that you have some experience under your belt, any advice? Any of ya have anything else to add? I`m all ears

---Leslie
Founder and President
Charmed Life Products LLC
Grill Charms™… The MUST HAVE grilling accessory that is revolutionizing the American Cook-out AND The perfect gift for any occasion!
Grill Charms

Thanks guys!!!! How do you ship your orders to your retailers? Do you use UPS or are your orders big enough to use LTL trucking companies?

---Leslie
Founder and President
Charmed Life Products LLC
Grill Charms™… The MUST HAVE grilling accessory that is revolutionizing the American Cook-out AND The perfect gift for any occasion!
Grill Charms

---Leslie
Founder and President
Charmed Life Products LLC
Grill Charms™… The MUST HAVE grilling accessory that is revolutionizing the American Cook-out AND The perfect gift for any occasion!
Grill Charms

We`ve been shipping to customers and retailers for about a month now. Shipping charges to customers who order from us online are based on the total amount of their order. For our retailers, we offer free shipping on first orders, and on subsequent orders we charge the actual shipping charges plus a (very) minimal handling charge. This handling charge is a flat fee, regardless of the size of the order.

Hope this helps & please keep us posted on your progress! I`m so proud of you!!

Mary Kay

Yes I like the given reply and its fact that with such kind of offers can also attract more customers.

On your price sheet that goes to wholesalers, you can include terms. In these terms you can have freight conditions, I do freight prepaid on orders of $2000.00 or maybe $1000.00 for certain companies depending on our relationships. You can make that condition any amount you are comfortable with. If these customers do not meet your minimum freight requirements, you are free to charge them what you want, but you don`t want to get out of hand or you will lose that customer for following orders.

Jeannie, I am sorry it took me so long to get back to this. I am in agreement with Netmom, where everything that you do to get your product out is a source of revenue. I charge a very minimul handling charge on top of actual freight, by very minimul I mean an extra $1.50 - $2.00, this is where you can make up what you have lost selling to a WD, rather than your regular Jobber. The distributor will expect this in most cases.